Early Caches

Early Caches

Some of the earliest caches, or purposely placed religious offerings, known from the Maya lowlands come from Caracol- and specifically from structure A6, the “Temple of the Wooden Lintel.” One of the more elaborate caches from the core of this building was encased in a stone box and dates approximately A.D.70. Within this stone box a large cloth bundle had been placed over a pool of liquid mercury. The cloth had been wrapped around a single jadeite earflare and a large number of pieces of raw malachite, all of which had been placed outside a set of lip-to-lip spondyls shells. Within these paired shells a jadeite mask had been carefully arranged on a bed of cinnabar; it had a jadeite claw at its throat and spondylous and jadeite beads in place of earflares.

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